In her regular feature Michelle Hoskin doesn't mince her words as she explains why confidence and steady nerves are needed if your business is to come through this

It is amazing what we can all achieve when we have to. As ‘they’ say… “diamonds are rocks that did well under pressure” and, given what is currently going on, I really hope that is the truth.

My fear however is that, while many will thrive during these turbulent times, there will certainly be many firms that simply were not prepared either physically or emotionally to adapt to the immediate and rapid changes which have been forced upon them.

Luckily our client firms fall far away from the latter group. Why? Well, first of all, we teach them to think and act like businesses. They approach everything with a mindset of possibility. The possibility of the opportunities available to them in the future as well as the possibilities of the risks that could present themselves at any point.

As a standards body and consultancy business we have in place a robust Opportunities and Risks Register, a Disaster Recovery Plan and a Business Continuity Plan which are deliberately designed to keep us one step ahead – ahead of, well, pretty much everything. Foresight is a business skill that we all need in our kit bag.

When disaster strikes

An illness or death of a business owner, an unexpected flood in the office, the resignation of a key member of your team or even a global pandemic; yes, of course, these are all terrible events but they do come loaded with an opportunity to see what is really going on in your business and to see where the real failings lie.

So, for those who have suffered any of these (excluding COVID-19 of course) how did you cope? What happened? What did you learn? How did you bounce back?

There are three key areas for consideration in every business each one of these needs to be discussed at the top of the agenda way before the realisation of any event.